SCADA software and field automation solutions for oil and gas

Stimulated
by oil prices and unconventional shale plays, current activity in the oil and
gas industry is extremely high. Independent and multi-national producers alike
are increasing their budgets for the remainder of 2014, including investing
particularly in the automation of their oil and gas production assets.

What
is the catalyst behind rising levels of investment in automation? As industry
innovation continues to improve the efficiency of gathering data from complex
multi-well facilities, the ability to remotely manage and optimize production
has become crucial to success.

More
than ever before, oil and gas producers are leveraging the value of automation,
and the experiences of eLynx customers reflect the following key business drivers
for automating production assets:

Alarming/Operating by Exception

Operating
by exception and alarming on production facilities has always been critical. Increasing
production levels of condensate and water makes complex alarming schemes
paramount. These schemes are being used more and more to guarantee smooth
operations: improving the scheduling of hauls and minimizing the chance of spills
and environmental issues.

Example: SCADALynx Alarm Indication

Reporting

Reporting data up the
food chain to the C-Suite in near real time versus daily or weekly totals is
becoming the norm. Upper management wants to know oil/gas production every day
and all day to make sure that goals are being met and that no surprises are lurking
on the horizon.

Example: SCADALynx Report

Optimizing Remotely

Artificial
lift in all basins is more prevalent than ever, demanding that the right data
and resources be available to make the most of the technology. Our customer
base is already using remote tuning and result-oriented surveillance, and this activity
will increase dramatically in the coming years.

Example: Plunger Lift Run Statistics

Integrating with Back Office Systems

A
large majority of field-captured data is getting delivered to back office
systems for viewing and analysis. There is huge benefit to populate ERP,
production accounting, GIS and all other systems for accuracy and further
analysis.

Maximizing the Value of Mergers and Acquisitions

This
activity is at a high level and will only continue. Buying a company that has
automation and a full history of the production data in the SCADA system
increases the ability for a better ROI and greatly reduces the resources needed
for gathering data on the acquired assets.

The
industry is healthy, and aggressive players are reaping the rewards of
investment in the right areas. Innovation is happening daily, and this industry
continues to find ways to develop new resources towards energy independence.
Remote monitoring and optimization plays a huge role in the effort.

John C. Powers is a 25 year
veteran in the oil and gas industry and the COO of eLynx Technologies. He oversees the strategic and operational
management of web- based SCADA, production
surveillance and field services to 400 oil and gas producers worldwide. eLynx
has over 25,000 wells/facilities on the SCADALynx platform, gathering over 2 Billion data values per month. John can be contacted at john@elynxtech.com or 918-496-8500.